WA's five greatest State of Origin moments
As we prepare to kick the Vics in the concept's return to Aussie Rules
G’day fellow Sandgropers!
A very special one today for our paid up Jumper Punches subscribers.
We touched on State of Origin on Monday and why WA will defy the odds and win. I now have a carton bet on this with Xavier Ellis - who called me out publicly because he knew I couldn’t back down. So now there’s extra incentive….
Today’s edition continues our mission of getting some of the best footy writers and creators under the hood helping us build out this community of WA footy tragics - and when we needed a historic ranking, there was only one man to call.
Sean Cowan is the Executive Editor of Business News, has been WA Journalist of the Year three times and is also a prominent WA football historian.
He’s been kind enough to write for Jumper Punches with a deep dive on WA’s five best moments in Origin football.
The majority of today’s edition is for paid subscribers. If you haven’t signed up, there’s never been a better time.
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Alright, let’s get stuck in.
It’s now 28 years since Western Australia played State of Origin football, and that was in what felt like a soulless game against South Australia at the now-demolished Football Park in Adelaide.
The six-goal loss to the Croweaters was WA’s sixth in a row and underscored just how little interest there was in the concept by that point, with crowd numbers hovering around 16,000-18,000 people and players regularly withdrawing from games due to their focus on club success in the AFL.
But there was a time, in the distant 1980s, when the Sandgropers were the kings of Origin. Or at least joint kings, if there is such a thing.
And it’s no surprise that the most memorable of those Origin moments all came against the Vics. Because as much as we loved winning against SA, who we always saw as our footballing equals, it was much sweeter to beat the mob that kept stealing our best players.
So coming up with a list of the top five State of Origin moments in WA’s history wasn’t that difficult. WA only played State of Origin football between 1977 and 1998, and we basically checked out after the Eagles were born.
We came up against Victoria on 19 occasions and finished with a respectable seven victories that underpinned WA being crowned national champions in four out of six championships held between 1979 and 1986. During that period, immediately before the advent of the Eagles for the start of the 1987 season, Western Australia was every bit as good as Victoria when the games were played on the wide, open expanses of Subiaco Oval. At the end of that era, the ledger stood at six wins apiece.
Breaking those six victories down further into a top five, in order, is perhaps a more difficult exercise. But here’s where I have landed:
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